10 Quotes About Tequila From the Famous Drinkers Who Loved It Best

"One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor."

Jackson Connor

Photo: Amy Chen

Over the course of the last few years, tequila—long the unofficial beverage of bad decisions and even worse hangovers—has successfully rebranded itself as a luxury item, crawling out of liquor-soaked dive bars and into high-end cocktail lounges across the world. Since 2005, tequila sales have nearly doubled in the US, with Americans spending $2.3 billion on the industry in 2015 alone.

Still, despite its new, more polished image, there’s something about the legend of tequila that remains cloaked in mythology and mysticism, more so than the European ancestry of liquors like whiskey, vodka, and brandy. Traditionally made from the blue agave plants of Santiago de Tequila, a small town some 40 miles southeast of Guadalajara in Mexico, the drink has been said to have medicinal powers, helping those who imbibe it beat colds, lose weight, and rest easier at night.

Even in 2016, few drinks are more steeped in ritual and tradition. From the licking of salt and sucking of limes, to the worm left floating at the bottom of the bottle, to the drink’s murky relationship with mezcal, the details matter when it comes to tequila, and are taken seriously by those who have come to pray at the altar of agave over the years.

Throughout the decades, chefs, writers, comedians, and musicians have all gone on to forge their own relationships with tequila. Whether the beverage served as the punch-line in a George Carlin joke, or the muse for one of Hunter S. Thompson’s drug-fueled adventures, in honor of National Tequila Day we celebrate the liquor’s place in American culture, and the famous drinkers who've come to love, hate, and fear its powers.

Anthony Bourdain

Thoughts on the matter: “I believe—to the best of my recollection, anyway—that I soon made the classic error of moving from margaritas to actual shots of straight tequila. It does make it easier to meet new people.”

Tom Robbins

Thoughts on the matter: “Now tequila may be the favored beverage of outlaws but that doesn't mean it gives them preferential treatment. In fact, tequila probably has betrayed as many outlaws as has the central nervous system and dissatisfied wives. Tequila, scorpion honey, harsh dew of the doglands, essence of Aztec, crema de cacti; tequila, oily and thermal like the sun in solution; tequila, liquid geometry of passion; Tequila, the buzzard god who copulates in midair with the ascending souls of dying virgins; tequila, firebug in the house of good taste; O tequila, savage water of sorcery, what confusion and mischief your sly, rebellious drops do generate!”​

Hunter S. Thompson

Thoughts on the matter: “We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers... and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls. Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can.”

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